SJD price increases

[ContrataxLtd]

I think they would have a hard job proving it, that's my point.

Yes I agree, would be difficult I imagine.

[JB3000]

Appreciate it happens all the time in all industries but if you were the new owners of SJD and got wind of this (assuming something untoward has gone on, it may well have not) surely you'd want to mount a fight? Again, I appreciate it has to be proved but I'm guessing SJD can throw more money at this than most if they want to...

Agreed- sounds like a data protection breach IMHO.

There is some random ex-SJD person with a usb or email with every/some SJD client's name, personal addresses, limited company name, etc. Surely there would be something preventing this in the employee's contract?

SJD should go through the emails of anyone who has left recently to see if these crooks were stupid enough to email themselves the offending list.

SJD should be going ape about this (no pun intended).

[lucozade]

I moved away from SJD many years ago. Hated the spreadsheets and thought the service was poor.

Got into an argument with a guy from SJD about the service after posting on CUK.

Lost all respect for them.

Still can't believe they are still using "the spreadsheet" and getting away with it. It was awful.

Ive been with Crunch since then and cannot complain too much. Very easy online system. If your looking for a plain and simple accountancy then these guys are good. Not at all proactive but they are good. I think I'm paying around £90 per month.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

That's different, then. Certainly that's not ethical.

It's easy enough to find out some, if not all, contractors with SJD. It's not very sophisticated but if you know the postcode of SJD office you can do a registered office search and then from that get the personal addresses of the directors. Time consuming and definitely unethical, but possible.

If this was a genuine issue for SJD I think they would have a solution where they perhaps use multiple forwarding addresses. Ultimately if the SJD client is happy they won't move. And if they do want a move, a poaching approach such as the above I feel won't sit well with most clients. (so you would probably need to be very cheap to offset that!) And if the client joins purely on price, they will leave to join the next undercutting accountant the following year.

[anthony]

I moved away from SJD many years ago. Hated the spreadsheets and thought the service was poor.

Got into an argument with a guy from SJD about the service after posting on CUK.

Lost all respect for them.

Still can't believe they are still using "the spreadsheet" and getting away with it. It was awful.

Couldnt agree with this statement any more... especially around the poor service.

[Waldorf]

Many accountants use cloaks and mirrors to confuse clients about what experience they have.

If it is the company I think it is, then looking at their website, the people listed mainly do not work in the business but for a private equity backer, there are a few ex SJD people, most of whom describe themselves as ACCA 'associates' - basically this means they are students! A quick search on the ACCA site does not list them as members.

Poor service usually comes from accountants that do not use qualified staff, whilst not all need to be fully qualified, I do think that they should be led by fully qualified accountants as it is they who direct the service provided.

[SlipTheJab]

Many accountants use cloaks and mirrors to confuse clients about what experience they have.

If it is the company I think it is, then looking at their website, the people listed mainly do not work in the business but for a private equity backer, there are a few ex SJD people, most of whom describe themselves as ACCA 'associates' - basically this means they are students! A quick search on the ACCA site does not list them as members.

Poor service usually comes from accountants that do not use qualified staff, whilst not all need to be fully qualified, I do think that they should be led by fully qualified accountants as it is they who direct the service provided.

+1, I had exactly this issue with Churchill Knight, leaving them was the best thing I ever did for my Ltd.

[JB3000]

Many accountants use cloaks and mirrors to confuse clients about what experience they have.

If it is the company I think it is, then looking at their website, the people listed mainly do not work in the business but for a private equity backer, there are a few ex SJD people, most of whom describe themselves as ACCA 'associates' - basically this means they are students! A quick search on the ACCA site does not list them as members.

Poor service usually comes from accountants that do not use qualified staff, whilst not all need to be fully qualified, I do think that they should be led by fully qualified accountants as it is they who direct the service provided.

Most of the ACCA syllabus is completely irrelevant to small businesses. I know as I have family members who have done the qualification!

Lets not forget that there is no such thing as a perfect firm of accountants. They all have their problems but as long as they are using Free Agent at least you will be able to do your own accounts in a couple of years! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Also, it is important not to get conned on the price. Around £100 (including VAT) per month is just about reasonable given that Free Agent does most of the work. It also good to make sure you can negotiate on price when you are out of work and that there are no nasty extras like self assessment tax return fees, company closure fees, etc.

[Waldorf]

Most of the ACCA syllabus is completely irrelevant to small businesses. I know as I have family members who have done the qualification!

Lets not forget that there is no such thing as a perfect firm of accountants. They all have their problems but as long as they are using Free Agent at least you will be able to do your own accounts in a couple of years! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

I realise that ACCA, CIMA etc are not necessary to prepare a set of accounts for an average contractor, a qualification does show that they understand the basics and you have the backing of a professional body.

By law only qualified solicitors can act as such, sadly the same protection is not given to the public with regards to accountants.

I have seen plenty on here and personally who have been burnt by using non qualified staff, it isn't always a protection, Google Darren Upton for proof of that but I'd only use the best I could afford, doing it yourself, in my view, is a waste of my time.

Neither would I use FreeAgent, last time I look at it, admittedly a few years ago, it had some fundamental flaws, such as treating any balancing payment to myself as a dividend, even there was no profit to do so.

[JB3000]

Neither would I use FreeAgent, last time I look at it, admittedly a few years ago, it had some fundamental flaws, such as treating any balancing payment to myself as a dividend, even there was no profit to do so.

That's actually quite a good point. There should at least be a warning that the dividend is illegal at the very minimum. It even does a dividend voucher for the illegal dividend.

As I've mentioned already, nothing is perfect so everyone should at least try to get value for money which I think Free Agent provides on the whole.